LitPDX seeks to amplify marginalized voices, and welcomes all, their ideas, their events, and their words.

For details regarding specific events please contact the organizers or venues. If you are an organizer or venue and would like to reach out to us please feel free to contact us or submit an event using our submission form. We’d love to hear from you!

Portland Book Festival 2021

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Portland Book Festival 2021 will be a hybrid event. There will be virtual events from November 8–12, leading up to an in-person festival day on Saturday, November 13, 2021 at Portland Art Museum and Portland’5, as well as in-person writing workshops at our downtown Literary Arts space. We will announce this year’s lineup of authors and events and tickets will go on sale on September 22. Youth 17 and under (and/or with a valid high school I.D.) will receive free entry. Although this continues to be an uncertain time, Literary Arts remains committed to the safety of all readers and writers and will follow all health and safety guidelines. Whether you join us online or in-person, we are excited to build community and celebrate books, storytelling, and the power of…

$15 – $25

Peter Martin | China’s Civilian Army: The Making of Wolf Warrior Diplomacy

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join author Peter Martin for a look into the untold story of China's transformation from an isolated and impoverished communist state to a global superpower from the perspective of those on the front line: China's diplomats. Little is known or understood about the inner workings of the Chinese government as the country bursts onto the world stage, as the world's second largest economy and an emerging military superpower. China's diplomats embody China’s battle between insecurity and self-confidence, internally and externally. To this day, Chinese diplomats work in pairs so that one can always watch the other for signs of ideological impurity. They're often dubbed China's "wolf warriors" for their combative approach to asserting Chinese interests. Drawing for the first time on the memoirs of more…

Free

Article Club (online)

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

A virtual program to discuss interesting articles from national publications Using Zoom, we will connect and share our thoughts about articles from national publications. Our virtual meeting will last about 30 minutes, and feature discussions on the chosen article. Participants should be ages 18+ and interested in sharing. There is space for up to 10 members, so sign up to receive the Zoom access code for the meeting. For more information, and to sign up, visit the Article Club page. “The Day the Dinosaurs Died” by Douglas Preston The New Yorker, March 29, 2019 Excerpt: If, on a certain evening about sixty-­six million years ago, you had stood somewhere in North America and looked up at the sky, you would have soon made out what appeared to be a star. If…

Free

Killer Book Club (REMOTE)

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Join us for Killer Book Club. This book club features all things murder in fiction and nonfiction including mysteries, thrillers, horror, true crime and more. We will meet second Thursdays. Our November meeting of the Killer Book Club will be on November 11th at 6:30pm. We will discuss Bind, Torture, Kill : The Inside Story of BTK, the Serial Killer Next Door by Roy Wenzl, Tim Potter, and Hurst Laviana, L. Kelly About the Book: The definitive story of Dennis Rader, the notorious BTK serial killer, told by the award-winning crime reporters at the Wichita Eagle with—for the first time—the full cooperation of the BTK Task Force. For thirty-one years, an unremarkable family man stalked, killed, and terroized the residents of Wichita, Kansas. He was a devoted husband. A helpful Boy Scout dad. A…

$8.99

Jackson Bliss Reading

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Register here for the Jackson Bliss reading. You will receive a Zoom link upon registration. Jackson Bliss is the winner of the 2020 Noemi Press Award in Prose and the mixed-race/hapa author of Counterfactual Love Stories & Other Experiments (Noemi Press, 2021), Amnesia of June Bugs (7.13 Books, 2022), Dream Pop Origami (Unsolicited Press, 2022), and the speculative fiction hypertext, Dukkha, My Love (2017). His short stories and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Tin House, Ploughshares, Guernica, Antioch Review, ZYZZYVA, Longreads, TriQuarterly, Columbia Journal, Kenyon Review, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Witness, Fiction, Santa Monica Review, Boston Review, Juked, Quarterly West, Arts & Letters, Joyland, Fiction International, Pleiades, Hobart, African American Review, Stand (UK), 3:am Magazine, The Good Men Project, The Daily Dot, and Multiethnic Literature in the US, among others. He has an MFA from the University of Notre Dame and a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from USC. He is the Distinguished Visiting Writing at Bowling Green State University and lives in LA with his wife and their two…

Free

Write Around Portland: Bi-Monthly BIPOC Online Writing Workshop

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

For people who identify as Black, Indigenous or People of Color (BIPOC). 2nd & 4th Friday of every month from 4 to 5:30 pm (Pacific Time), Free. (No workshops 11/26 & 12/24.) Workshops are held via Zoom. Pre-registration is required. Registration opens the 1st of the month every month. Pre-register for our 2nd Friday workshop here. Pre-register for our 4th Friday workshop here. Click here for more workshop details.

Free

In-person Book Launch & Exhibit: Diane Jacobs / Owed to The Mountain

Passages Bookshop 1801 NW Upshur, Suite 660, Portland, OR, United States

You are cordially invited to a book launch and exhibition for a new artist's book by Diane Jacobs: OWED TO THE MOUNTAIN Friday, November 12, 5:00-8:00 pm with a brief artist's talk at 7:00 pm Saturday, November 13, 12:00-6:00 pm Passages Bookshop 1223 NE ML King Blvd. Portland, OR 97232 503-388-7665 Masks required for attendance ================================================= Passages Bookshop is pleased to welcome folks back into the shop with an exhibition of prints and books by Diane Jacobs, all related to the exciting and ambitious new project that has kept her occupied for the last several years, Owed to The Mountain. From the prospectus: Stories are both history and prophecy — time is circular — stories are among our most potent tools for restoring the land…

Free

Writing Characters Who Take Up Space

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

For all the descriptive writing in the world, it is often difficult to fully realize a physical body in a physical space for a reader. Bodies are so varied, spaces contain so many possibilities, but both bodies and spatial possibilities are often overlooked in writing craft. This class will use ideas presented in Amy Cuddy’s book, Presence: Bringing your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges, Bessel Van Der Kolk’s, The Body Keeps Score, and others, to present new ways of exploring the physical presence of characters on the page, their experiences with themselves, with their environment and with other characters. Access Program We want our writing classes to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition structure can present…

$190

In-person Book Launch & Exhibit: Diane Jacobs / Owed to The Mountain

Passages Bookshop 1801 NW Upshur, Suite 660, Portland, OR, United States

You are cordially invited to a book launch and exhibition for a new artist's book by Diane Jacobs: OWED TO THE MOUNTAIN Friday, November 12, 5:00-8:00 pm with a brief artist's talk at 7:00 pm Saturday, November 13, 12:00-6:00 pm Passages Bookshop 1223 NE ML King Blvd. Portland, OR 97232 503-388-7665 Masks required for attendance ================================================= Passages Bookshop is pleased to welcome folks back into the shop with an exhibition of prints and books by Diane Jacobs, all related to the exciting and ambitious new project that has kept her occupied for the last several years, Owed to The Mountain. From the prospectus: Stories are both history and prophecy — time is circular — stories are among our most potent tools for restoring the land…

Free

Tales From a King County Search & Rescuer

Online N/A, Portland, OR, United States

Come and listen to stories from King County Explorer Search & Rescue Volunteer, Alexis Leader. Bring your questions! Alexis’ story: I first became involved in Search and Rescue back in 2014 when I was 18 years old, since then I have gone on over 85 missions and logged hundreds of training. I am now a member of three different units (Seattle Mountain Rescue, Everett Mountain Rescue and King County Explorer Search and Rescue). I am a board member for Everett Mountain Rescue and have been working hard in all three units to promote stress first aid as well as working with the Mountain Rescue Association to help promote diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout all Mountain Rescue organizations. I am thrilled to get to talk about…

Free – $15